by Joe Siegel

The turbulent political climate and advertiser backlash against the LGBTQ community has resulted in turmoil for many community publications.

Jack Tesorero, publisher of Phoenix-based ION Arizona, described the challenges his publication is experiencing in an August 2025 editorial. “Due to the Trump policies, cuts in LGBTQ+ grants and an overall uncertainty of the economy, many ION advertisers have cut their LGBTQ+ funding resulting in a 20% reduction in sales,” Tesorero wrote.

ION Arizona moved out of their office in downtown Phoenix. “It had just gotten too expensive to maintain the office,” he wrote. Additionally, “we were forced to let go of our longtime editor Deon Brown.”

He signed his editorial as a “Trump Economy Survivor.”

Tesorero said being a publisher in LGBTQ media has been “exhausting, exhilarating and scary” for the last 25 years. “Since 2001, we have weathered three recessions, a housing crisis and a pandemic all effecting sales. For the first 15 years, we battled 13 local competitors that have all come and gone leaving ION Arizona as the only LGBTQ+ publication in the state. We purchased three and closed them and the others failed on their own.” 

“While then we faced intense competition from the local competitors and the economy, today our competitors are multibillion-dollar social media companies like Facebook, Google, Instagram, Snapchat and more. Many advertisers moved the ION money to social media,” Tesorero noted. 

The loss of advertising revenue has played a major role in the financial difficulties of LGBTQ media.

“Bud Light was our biggest advertiser for years, buying the back cover and sponsoring all our events,” Tesorero explained. “Because of the controversy of the trans community that was made by a local marketing director, [Bud Light] boycotted everywhere and pulled their support in fear of haters and backlash. Then we had a pause on some advertising paid for by federal grants only to have them reinstated.”

ION Arizona is not the only LGBTQ publication in a financial bind. The Washington Blade has launched a $50,000 fundraising drive in response to its financial struggle. Editor Kevin Naff said the federal takeover of the D.C. Police Department, as well as the recent government shutdown, “have hit all local D.C. businesses hard.”

The Blade’s fundraising appeal reads in part: “We are writing to you as a reader and supporter of the Washington Blade, the nation’s oldest LGBTQ news outlet.

“The current administration’s attacks on the LGBTQ community are hitting the Blade hard:

“Many corporate advertisers have abandoned LGBTQ media due to anti-DEI crackdowns.

“Far-right extremists have attacked the Blade, attempting to hack our social media accounts resulting in expensive fixes.

“Many of our advertisers are small D.C. businesses suffering from the federal takeover and the government shutdown.”

Some LGBTQ publications continue to thrive, despite the overall uncertainty.

“We have not seen any direct economic impact at this time,” said Russ White, publisher of Q Life magazine in Las Vegas. “We already operate lean and efficiently, so are not subject to economic fluctuations as easily. We just invested in a new commercial printer, so we are able to adapt our page count and circulation on the fly. If we lose an advertiser or two we can cut back hard costs to keep every issue profitable. In October, we added a new travel edition distributed at the Las Vegas Airport and expect that investment to grow as Las Vegas comes out of the economic slump.”

ION Arizona is doing well with one of their innovations, which is a dependable source of revenue — an app he calls “Trump proof.”

“Before COVID-19, we spent two years developing our own app that is recession proof and available worldwide 24/7,” Tesorero said. “In 2020, we had 1,000 downloads. Today we are approaching 10,000 downloads without having to pay for extra printing and staff. A lot of local magazines could benefit from our app customized to their city/state. We are offering to sell franchises to any publication or organization that wants to help launch it in their neighborhood. Best part is, franchise fee is only one dollar. We design your site, upload it, update it constantly. All we ask is that there is a local sales team and we split the profits. Most of my advertisers are on autopay so money comes in throughout the month consistently.”

TOP STORY
Volume 27
Issue 10